An endocutter is a surgical tool that staples and cuts tissue to transect that tissue while leaving the cut ends hemostatic. An endocutter is small enough in diameter for use in minimally invasive surgery, where access to a surgical site is obtained through a trocar, port, or small incision in the body. A linear cutter is a larger version of an endocutter, and is used to transect portions of the gastrointestinal tract. A typical endocutter receives at its distal end a disposable single-use cartridge with several rows of staples, and includes an anvil opposed to the cartridge. During actuation of an endocutter, the cartridge fires all of the staples that it holds. In order to deploy more staples, the endocutter must be moved away from the surgical site and removed from the patient, after which the old cartridge is exchanged for a new cartridge. The endocutter is then reinserted into the patient. However, it can be difficult and/or time-consuming to located the surgical site after reinsertion. Further, the process of removing the endocutter from the patient after each use, replacing the cartridge, and then finding the surgical site again is tedious, inconvenient and time-consuming, particularly where a surgical procedure requires multiple uses of the endocutter.
In order to overcome these difficulties, Cardica, Inc. of Redwood City, Calif. has developed a true multi-fire endocutter that is capable of firing multiple times without the need to utilize single-use-cartridges. Such an endocutter is described in, for example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0065552, published on Mar. 12, 2009 (the “Endocutter Publication”), which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Referring also to FIG. 1, that endocutter utilizes a feeder belt 2 to which staples 4 are fixed and frangibly separable therefrom. Each staple 4 has a free end 6, and an opposite end 8 that is fixed to the feeder belt 2. Each staple 4 is sheared from the feeder belt 2 at the junction between the end 8 of the staple 4 and the feeder belt 2. The staples 4 are perpendicular to the feeder belt 2 during advancement of the feeder belt 2, deployment of the staples 4, and shearing of the staples 4 from the feeder belt 2.
The use of the same reference symbols in different figures indicates similar or identical items.